daveydave

I used to be able to write with reasonable coherence, I was never a master craftsman, but what wrote was normally readable to a fashion. Having just re-read yesterday's post on the HTC Hero, it looks like I'm out of practice. Well, it has been months since I wrote anything longer than a tweet, so perhaps I shouldn't rely on Twitter so much, and actually write some posts for this blog. We'll see how that works out...

Anyone got any idea how to get rid of that annoying gap to the left of the post text? Come on Mal, you must know! :)

Technically, the T-Mobile G2 Touch , but it's an HTC Hero really. First, I'll tell you where I'm approaching this from. I have been using a Nokia N95 for almost 2 years and I use pretty much all the features on my phone: GPS, web browser, email integration, etc... The N95 does the job very nicely, so much so that when I was due to upgrade last year, I didn't. Yes, it has its problems (I'm not a great fan of Symbian ), but it is a very effective package. So, I was interested to see how much better Google's Android system and the new hardware were. The company I work for has just kitted out its staff with Heros. We use Google Apps to service our email, contacts, calendar requirements and as Android is a Google product, you'd expect these things to work together pretty seamlessly. And yes, they do. Setting up the phone to talk to my Google account was simple and in no time all my contacts, emails, etc. were synchronised. Whatever tools, gadgets and applicat...

This is exactly how legal downloads should work. I was looking around to see if Yasmin Levy had a new album out and Amazon, as it does, suggested a few alternatives it thought I may like. I previewed The Beauty and the Sea by Mor Karbasi and liked the sound of it, so I coughed up my seven quid and downloaded it using the little Amazon download gadget. Now for the best bit. Having bought and downloaded the album at work, I copied the MP3s on to my USB key and transferred them over to my system at home. Within a few minutes I was listening to the album on the telly (via the wireless media streamer) - no hassle, no error messages telling me I wasn't allowed even though I'd paid good money for it or any of that caper. Absolutely spot on and exactly the sort of thing I couldn't do, thanks to the damn DRM infection, the first (and last) time I downloaded music. Music and video producers/sellers take note: make legal downloading as nice and easy as this and people will buy. Conti...

I've now done 3 weeks of the level one umpire course. I must say I'm enjoying it, although there is a lot of stuff to learn. The course and supplied materials are free, so now I know where at least some of the money from Sky is going! More later. (if you're interested)

Had to be done eventually I suppose. I'm on Twitter . To be fair, posts to this blog can be few and far between, so perhaps I can do better when I'm confined to just 140 characters. I have added the little widget thing to this blog so you don't even have to navigate to the Twitter site. But if you feel the need to follow me or whatever, you can find me here . Oh yeah.... and I'm also available on FriendFeed .

He won then, convincingly. As a UK citizen I obviously had no say in the election itself, but I'm delighted Barack Obama won. While I don't believe an administration under a President McCain would have been anywhere near as damaging as the last two terms under Bush, I can't quite align myself with Republican policies. They represent the extreme of the selfish, me-first capitalism that I find so distasteful. Barack is a fine speaker and is backed up by a fine speech-writing team. His victory speech in the early hours of Wednesday morning was as masterful as it was moving. I have watched it several times. I sincerely hope that he can deliver on that which he has promised so eloquently and which is so desperately needed. A quick word on John McCain. I don't subscribe to his polices nor do I feel particularly comfortable with his choice of running mate, but his final speech of the campaign conceding defeat to Obama showed him to be a decent and honourable man. It is a real ...

My posts tend to ramble (especially anything remotely political) so I'm going to try and keep this one short. I like the House of Lords, I like the fact they are unelected and therefore (put simplistically) beyond the reach of the party whips. I believe they perform an invaluable job in keeping a check on Government legislation - they are highly qualified and experienced experts in their respective fields. They are not career politicians. I do not support the Government's proposals for an elected upper house and I doubt I ever will. I do not believe that the job the Lords have done so well (e.g. amendments to the Identity Cards Bill, throwing out 42 days, etc...) can be achieved as effectively with elected politicians under the rule of the whip's office. By all means modify: reduce the size of the house, change how they are appointed, look at the legitimacy of appointed Government ministers in the Lords. But don't replace it with an entirely partisan body full of polit...

Haymarket Bus Station is located at the north end of Newcastle-upon-Tyne city centre. It is a very busy station serving Newcastle, North Tyneside and Northumberland and it is very badly run. I've used this place for years and never cease to be amazed at how shockingly bad the organisation is, and watching one girl miss her bus this evening has prompted me to vent. First, a little more background. The roads around Newcastle are not the best and they get busy. Once the clocks have changed and late Autumn arrives they get busier. If there is even the slightest hint of rain, they get busier still. Result: buses run late. So to this evening. The X1 was due to leave for Blyth at 17:25. It arrived in good time to deposit its passengers and meet that departure time. However Stand T, where it was supposed to park up, was occupied by the X4 that was running late. The X1 parks up at Stand S prompting the queue of people waiting at Stand T to push their way through crowds and round barriers to...

I finally got round to hitting the countryside and going for a walk. OK, it wasn't a big walk by any stretch, but it was a start. I headed up to the Simonside Hills, just south of Rothbury and ambled around for a couple of hours. You know what, it was great. I'd forgotten how much I like hill and fell walking, and how fantastic the scenery is in Northumberland. I'd also forgotten how curiously satisfying it is to sit in the boot of a 4x4 and just look out at the scenery. It's a comfy place to change out of your walking boots and, should it rain, the tailgate will keep you dry. There was also a slightly geeky side to the walk. Having a mobile that is equipped with GPS enables me to figure out where I am, but it also allows me let everyone else know where I am too. I tried the system for the last 10 minutes of my walk today and, sure enough, the route appears on the website . Had you been looking at around 3.30 today, you could have followed my progress as I walked down t...

You probably don't know, I certainly don't. So few of our receipts list VAT and none list other taxes such as fuel or alcohol duty. You know how much income tax, national insurance and council tax you pay, but you don't know how much you pay in indirect taxation. Personally, I'm in favour of transparency in such matters. If the government is going to take my money off me, I want to know how much. So I was interested to see that Nigel Evans , Conservative MP for Ribble Valley, introduced a Private Members' Bill on the 1st of July this year. The Transparent Taxation (Receipts) Bill aims to make it a legal requirement that receipts list the total amount of tax paid. Its second reading is on the 17th October and while Private Members' Bills hardly ever make it onto the statue books, it should be an interesting debate. I'm sure, like me, you'll be eager for the publication of Hansard on the 18th. No? Just me then.

As two weeks of hard-fought sporting greatness draws to a spectacular close, attention moves swiftly from Beijing to London. How quickly the Olympics pass. Years of preparation, not to mention the $42bn spend, over in an instant. But what games. China had something to prove to the world and it did that emphatically. These games were supremely well organised, visually stunning and magnificently entertaining. I hope now that the UK (or GB as it has been for the last 2 weeks) will work to make a real success of 2012. I know people are complaining about the cost, about the fact it's mostly benefiting London, that £26 million is a lot to spend on cycling, etc., etc. But let's be honest, there are always people who will complain - we are after all, a nation of self-deprecating - almost self-loathing - whingers. For me, sport is worthy of proper investment. You simply cannot can not put a price on how the success of Team GB has lifted people in this country, how much of an influence i...

I had a little chat about KP last week, so now that he's England captain I feel I should probably post a follow up. Last week I had called into question KP's place in the Test side because I wasn't convinced that he could control himself long enough to get the big scores required of him. Well, now that he's skipper and his place is guaranteed, giving him the authority and responsibility he so evidently craves, is it going to affect his game as it has others? I can't honestly see his average slipping, in fact it'll probably improve. But what of the flash shots? Well, we were reminded on Friday that he can resist the glory shot and play very well indeed. This could be just what he needs to go from a brilliant if sometimes rash batter, to a genuine great. Only time will tell. He's lucky that he has this dead game to captain (South Africa have already wrapped up the series win, so the 4th Test at the Oval is for pride and practice only) as it gives him much need...

Those of you who have read my inane drivel over the past couple of years will know I've been about a bit. No, no, not in that way. I've been lucky enough to visit quite a few countries around the world at the expense of my carbon footprint. You will also know that, despite moaning about it, I'm a big fan of public transport and trains in particular. So in an effort to be more green, and to actually see some of the country in which I reside, I intend to have a poke about the UK by train this summer, starting with a day trip to picturesque Whitby on Sunday. I'll be jotting my random thoughts down on this and future trips, and I'm sure you'll all be looking forward to reading them soon. Ahem!

KP, FigJam, call him what you will, Kevin Pietersen is an outstanding batting talent. When on song he is fantastic to watch and is capable of getting you many many runs. The problem is, although he has huge talent, he has a larger ego. He was doing everything so well. When woefully out-of-form Paul Collingwood arrived at the crease, KP coaxed and cajoled him through the early overs to score some much needed runs. The two of them put together a fine, well-crafted partnership which started to look like giving England cause to consider a win. However, as KP approached his century, the ego appeared and he started to play his more flamboyant shots. So, when he was on strike with 94 to his name, he decided to go for the glory shot over the long-on boundary and got himself caught. Having put so much effort in to rescuing the game, to then lose his wicket not due to a fantastic ball, or an excellent catch, but to throw it away tending to his ego is unforgivable. I know this may be controversia...

The live, in-the-field reporting rather tailed off there didn't it. I guess a mixture of mobile phones not being the best medium for writing even short copy on, and the question of who is really that bothered about hearing what I'm up to in real-time, brought that little experiment to an end. However, it did leave things a little open-ended. So, my overall thoughts of the German capital? A very cool city; it has a bit of everything as all capital cities should. It obviously has a wealth of history, particularly recent history and a fine mix of architecture, obviously a lot of it is modern, but the quality of the design of the new buildings is pretty high on average. What I really love though, is how they've managed to mix new with the remains of the old and, indeed, how they have reinvigorated some of the older buildings: the Reichstag in particular. Norman Foster has done great work with this famous old building and the views from the top are quite spectacular. One things ...

I've been trying for hours to post something but no joy. So, Germany defeated by the Spanish. Many many unhappy Germans filed passed this evening after the final whistle took away any chance of a German comeback. Subdued is not the word. But at least it gave us the chance to enter the party zone. There was a hard-core still dancing at the stage closest to the gate, but that party came to an end just before midnight. Back at the hotel now; shame Germany didn't win, it would have been fun, but what was great to see was calm resignation and that those Spanish fans who were visible were left alone and not given any grief. Back to normal tourist duties tomorrow.

Well, the Brandenburg Gate area is crammed with half a million football fans, so we couldn't get in. Standing in a bar round the corner with 10 minutes to go. Not looking good for Deutchland.

Today involved more walking, as these trips tend to. The morning was a visit to the zoo. I can't say I'm the biggest fan of locking animals in cages but I can see there is a scientific side to such establishments. However, it was good to see the elephants, gorillas and the polar bears. Feeding time for the panda was pretty cool too because it meant the lazy oaf actually moved. After lunch (guess what!) and a mooch about, I headed west to the old royal palace, Shloß Charlottenburg. Extensively damaged during the war, it has been restored and was an interesting visit. The build up to the Euro final tonight continues apace. The train back to the hotel was full of locals suitably covered in black, red and gold. Tonight's destination is the Brandenburg Gate area, which is already very busy. More later, hopefully.

Greetings from Berlin. Day 2 already and my feet are sore. Yesterday was mainly travel and the obligatory trip to the Brandenburg Gate and Reichstag. Currywurst and a couple of biers too, of course. Today has been mainly walking the city from the modern Potsdamer Platz area, the Holocaust Memorial down to Checkpoint Charlie. I won't go on too much as typing on a mobile phone is never easy, but the Holocaust Memorial was quite amazing and truly moving, especially as you read the last letter of a 12 year old girl to her father. Leaving there to the sound of the B52s was a jarring experience as I found myself in the middle of a huge, loud and colourful gay parade. This is certainly an interesting city.